jumping at windurra

I really did have all the best intentions for this year… But obviously horses being horses, we work with what we got, right? And so here we are in September — finally arriving for our first xc lesson at Windurra of the season, almost an entire year since the last time.

looking back down the driveway completely packed with trailers

And given all the circumstances of that long break… We’re still basically almost exactly where we left off. Actually, this most recent lesson was in many ways a fair bit pared back from that last lesson back in October — and appropriately so, right? Given the mare’s fitness and time off and all that. 

one of the locals stopped by to say hi too!

This mare is gonna teach me patience if it’s the last thing she does LOL! Regardless, tho, it was a super fun day and so great to be back out again. The weather was perfect, the ground was good, and even tho it was probably the most packed I’ve ever experienced at Windurra, we were able to basically go about our business unimpeded. Very nice!

it was busy in more ways than one — water trucks and mowers and tractors out dragging, plus boyd’s dog randomly popping in and out from the woods

I was proud of myself for actually putting in a proper warm up too. Close observers may recall I’m sometimes a little, erm, complacent about that. Warming Doozy up on terrain around cross country jumps when she’s running a little hot and distracted is… ya know, hard. Historically I’ve been a bit quick to throw in the towel and just get on with it. 

we had a good little group tho

And it’s not that I need to spend ages on it, but it’s been clear through the rehab process that Doozy goes best when I can get her more laterally supple and connected in the warm up. That doesn’t mean cantering her around for 20min or anything like that — actually we start at the walk — but it just means at least trying to establish the feeling, however fleeting it may be.

did a lot of familiar exercises and jumps

And Doozy was honestly pretty good, especially to start! Tho the reality is that the typical group lesson format — everybody taking a turn jumping one thing at a time — is probably the trickiest style of riding for the mare. We just straight up don’t do that much starting / stopping in a normal ride, and it really activates Doozy’s natural tendency toward anticipation and rushing.

doozy did best with a little repetition and being allowed to cruise around for a bit

And even tho I was super careful on the landing sides to mirror the work we did in our recent lesson with Matt — returning quickly to balance and suppleness at trot or canter, or even just stopping straight — it didn’t seem to make Doozy want to pick up for her turns much more smoothly.

didn’t do too too many jumps, and some were pretty small, but the bn stuff was all nbd

Tho don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like bad or anything, just not as smooth as I’d like. Never really settling into a rhythm, ya know? Tho we did a couple times put little lines together, and those often went better. Or a couple times I asked to circle back immediately to the jump, keeping my canter along the way, and that worked nicely too.

doozy don’t care bout no brush!

Remembering my commitment to staying forward definitely helped with all our up transitions — we didn’t have too many moments of twisted stickiness or pogo-sticking like we sometimes have had. Tho it was hard for me to keep that same forward feel to the actual jumps. 

just enough to say we did it!

As it was, tho, Doozy jumped everything basically quite nicely. Nothing super skittery, tho some a tad backwards feeling mostly bc of that lack of rhythm issue. She didn’t seem to care one way or another, tho, and actually seemed to level out when we got to jump actual BN height stuff.

and again played with nice jumps out of the water

She felt very confident, maybe even a little cocky at times. Like she knew what we were doing, and why, and even occasionally allowed that I might have a point about asking her for more lateral suppleness before and after our jumps. 

d’aww doozy

And for my part, while it wasn’t necessarily a perfect representation of all the good work we’ve been trying to establish, it DID feel better and more reproducible in this schooling session compared to some past efforts. Especially given that it was our first time jumping cross country in like 5 months… ya know, I’ll take it LOL!

somehow between this moment and getting back to the trailers she lost that left bell boot, womp

It’s just yet another reminder that with Doozy, the jumps are the easy part haha. If I can get her to the jump, even in decidedly suboptimal levels of straightness and balance, she’s jumping. 

so fun <3

The moments **between** the jumps tho… That’s really the tricky part for us. One thing I noticed in this ride is that the terrain really seems very influential to Doozy — as soon as she starts to feel a little off balance going up or down hill or off camber or whatever, it’s like she gets completely rigid across her top line and loses all suppleness.

helmet cam video of most of our ride

While some of that is undoubtedly her just being a bit triggered and anticipatory, it’s probably a strength thing too. Hopefully I can keep finding opportunities for dedicated (and RELAXED) flatwork on the grass at home, bc that should theoretically help her feel more secure.

there was so much noise and distraction along the driveway, she wanted me to stand with her while she finished her mash before going home lol

As it was, Doozy was TIRED after our ride! And we really weren’t even out there that long, didn’t really jump all that many things. But she wastes so much energy on tension, on just being hot and bolt-y and having to do extra circles and all the things. Oh mare, it doesn’t have to be like that haha!

so pleased with this critter <3 <3 <3

Again, tho, for our first time out in a while it felt like yet another positive reinforcement that some of the changes we’ve made in our approaches are paying off for Doozy. It might not be classically “easy” yet, but it’s definitely fun haha. One step at a time, right ?